It's all in for the Texas Stars at forward tonight as Curtis McKenzie and Jason Dickinson both went to Dallas on emergency recall in the past two days. Dickinson could return today with Spezza's injury being just illness. Despite his goal in last night's game, he cannot stay in the NHL once Spezza returns to health. Those are the terms of an emergency recall. McKenzie and Dickinson are two of the Stars' top three scorers. (Dickinson did return this morning)

(Credit: Christina Shapiro/Texas Stars)

San Jose is in a bit of an emergency situation itself. Despite holding the fourth spot in the Pacific, they are in danger of missing the playoffs thanks to the rebound of the Charlotte Checkers. The Checkers would cross over from the Central if the Barracuda don't beat Charlotte's points percentage. Each team has four games left to play and San Jose trails by just under .020 percentage points. They will face Texas twice this weekend and return to California for two against Stockton next week. Charlotte will play Milwaukee at home and Lake Erie on the road, both clubs that have already punched their playoff ticket. This one could go down to the wire.

Texas, for its part, will lock down a playoff berth with a point against San Jose.

Defenseman Niklas Hansson and Mike McMurtry could make their home debuts for the Stars this evening.

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